28. Using Push

Ableton Push is an instrument for song creation that provides hands-on control of
melody and harmony, beats, sounds, and song structure. In the studio, Push allows
you to quickly create clips that populate Live’s Session View as you work entirely
from the hardware. On stage, Push serves as a powerful instrument for clip launching.

Push’s controls are divided into a number of sections, as shown in the diagram below.

Overview of Push’s Controls.

Much of Push’s behavior depends on which mode it is in, as well as on which type of track is selected. To help you learn how to work with Push, this chapter will walk you
through some of the fundamental workflows, and then will provide a reference of all
of Push’s controls.

28.1 Setup

Setting up the Push hardware is mostly automatic. As long as Live is running, Push
will be automatically detected as soon as it is connected to a USB port on your computer.
After connection, Push can be used immediately. It is not necessary to install drivers
and Push does not need to be manually configured in Live’s Preferences.

28.2 Browsing and Loading Sounds

You can browse and load sounds directly from Push, without needing to use Live’s browser.
This is done in Push’s Browse Mode.

Press Push’s Browse button:

The Browse Button.

In Browse Mode, the display shows all of your available sounds and effects, as well
as locations from the Places section of Live’s browser (see 5.1.1). The display is divided into columns. The far left column shows either the specific
type of device being browsed or the Places label. Each column to the right shows the
next subfolder (if any exist). Use the In and Out buttons to shift the display to
the right or left, allowing you to browse deeper levels of subfolders or view a larger
number of presets on the display.

In and Out Buttons.

Navigate up via the Selection Control button (the first row below the display) in
each column. Navigate down one folder via the State Control button for each level
(the second row below the display). Samples and presets from official Packs or Live’s
core library will preview when selected in the browser. To load a device preset, press
the green button on the right. To load the default preset of the selected device,
press the green button on the left.

Loading Devices or Device Presets in Browse Mode.

You can scroll quickly through folders and subfolders via the encoders. Holding Shift
while pressing the up or down buttons will move by a whole page.

After pressing a device or preset load button, the button will turn amber. This indicates
that the currently selected entry is loaded; if you navigate to a different entry,
the button will turn green again. Tip: pressing an amber load button will load the
next entry in the list, allowing you to quickly try out presets or devices.

What you see when in Browse Mode depends on the device that was last selected. If
you were working with an instrument, Browse Mode will show you replacement instruments.
If you were working with an effect, you will see effects. When starting with an empty
MIDI track, the display shows all of your available sounds, instruments, drum kits,
effects, and Max for Live devices (see Chapter 25), as well as VST and Audio Units instruments (see 17.2). Folders are only visible on Push if they contain items that can be loaded at any
particular time. For example, the Samples label (as well as any of your own folders
in Places that only contain samples) won’t be visible unless you’re browsing from
a single pad in a Drum Rack (see 28.3.4).

28.3 Playing and Programming Beats

To create beats using Push, first make sure Note Mode is enabled.

The Note Mode Button.

Then use Browse Mode to load one of the Drum Rack presets from Live’s library.

When working with a MIDI track containing a Drum Rack, Push 2’s 8x8 pad grid can be
configured in a few different ways, depending on the state of the Note button. Pressing
this button cycles between three different modes.

28.3.1 Loop Selector

When the Loop Selector layout is enabled, the pads are divided into three sections,
allowing you to simultaneously play, step sequence and adjust the length of your clip.

When working with Drum Racks that contain a larger number of pads, use Push’s touch
strip or the Octave Up and Octave Down keys to move up/down by 16 pads. Hold Shift
while using the touch strip or Octave keys to move by single rows.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the 16 Velocities layout (see 28.3.2). You can also lock the alternate layout in place by holding Shift and pressing the
Note button. To unlock the 16 Velocities layout, press the Note button again.

Octave Up/Down Buttons.

28.3.2 16 Velocities Mode

Press the Layout button to switch to the 16 Velocities layout. In this mode, the bottom
right 16 pads represent 16 different velocities for the selected Drum Rack pad. Tap
one of the velocity pads to enter steps at that velocity.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls (see 28.6.1). You can also lock the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing
the Note button. To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

28.3.3 64-Pad Mode

In addition to the Loop Selector and 16 Velocities layouts, you can also use the entire
8x8 pad grid for real-time drum playing. This is useful when working with very large
drum kits, such as those created by slicing (see 11.1). To toggle to 64-pad mode, press the Note Mode button a second time. Pressing Note
again will then toggle back to the Loop Selector layout, allowing you to quickly get
back to step sequencing. The pad colors in 64-pad mode are the same as those used
in the three-section layout.

Note: when moving back and forth between the three layouts, the 16 pads available
for step sequencing will not change automatically. You may still need to use the touch
strip or Octave keys in order to see the specific 16 pads you want.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls (see 28.6.1). You can also lock the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing
the Note button. To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

28.3.4 Loading Individual Drums

Browse Mode can also be used to load or replace individual pads within a loaded Drum
Rack. To switch between browsing Drum Racks and single pads, press the Device button
to show the devices on the track.

Device Button.

By default, the Drum Rack is selected, as indicated by the arrow in the display. To
select an individual pad instead, tap that pad, then press the selection button below
the pad’s name.

Selecting an Individual Pad in a Drum Rack.

Now, entering Browse Mode again will allow you to load or replace the sound of only
the selected pad. Once in Browse Mode, tapping other pads will select them for browsing,
allowing you to quickly load or replace multiple sounds within the loaded Drum Rack.

Additional Pad Options

To copy a pad to a different location in your Drum Rack, hold the Duplicate button
and press the pad you’d like to copy.While continuing to hold Duplicate, press the
pad where you’d like to paste the copied pad. Note that this will replace the destination
pad’s devices (and thus its sound) but will not replace any existing notes already recorded for that pad.

28.3.5 Step Sequencing Beats

Tapping a pad also enables it for step sequencing. (Tip: to select a pad without playing
it, press and hold the Select button while tapping a pad.)

Select Button.

To record notes with the step sequencer, tap the pads in the step sequencer controls
to place notes in the clip where you want them. The clip will begin playing as soon
as you tap a step. By default, each step sequencer pad corresponds to a 16th note,
but you can change the step size via the buttons in the Scene/Grid section.

Scene/Grid Buttons.

As the clip plays, the currently playing step is indicated by the moving green pad
in the step sequencer section. (When Record is enabled, the moving pad will be red.)
Tapping a step that already has a note will delete that note. Press and hold the Mute
button while tapping a step to deactivate it without deleting it. Press and hold Solo
button while tapping a pad to solo that sound.

Mute and Solo Buttons.

You can also adjust the velocity and micro-timing of individual notes, as described
in the section on step sequencing automation (see 28.12).

To delete all notes for a pad, press and hold Delete while tapping the pad. (Note:
this will only delete notes that are within the current loop.)

Light Red — the right two columns of pads will turn red if triplets are selected as
the step size. In this case, these pads are not active; only the first six pads in
each row of steps can be used.

When Triplets are Selected, the Red Steps are Unavailable.

For detailed information about adjusting the loop length pads, see the section called
Adjusting the Loop Length (see 28.6.1).

28.3.6 Real-time Recording

Drum patterns can also be recorded in real-time by playing the Drum Rack pads. Follow
these steps to record in real-time:

If you want to record with a click track, press the Metronome button to enable Live’s
built-in click

Metronome Button.

Then Press the Record button to begin recording

Record Button.

Now any Drum Rack pads you play will be recorded to the clip. Pressing Record again
will stop recording but will continue playing back the clip. Pressing Record a third
time will enable overdub mode, allowing you to record into the clip while it plays
back. Subsequent presses continue to toggle between playback and overdub.

Pressing New stops playback of the currently selected clip and prepares Live to record
a new clip on the currently selected track. This allows you to practice before recording
a new idea. By default, pressing New also duplicates all clips that are playing on
other tracks to a new scene and continues playing them back seamlessly. This behavior can
be changed by changing the Workflow mode in Push’s User preferences (see 28.14)

New Button.

28.3.7 Fixed Length Recording

Press the Fixed Length button to set the size of new clips to a predetermined length.

Fixed Length Button.

Press and hold Fixed Length to set the recording length.

Fixed Length Recording Options.

When Fixed Length is disabled, new clips will continue to record until you press the
Record, New or Play/Stop buttons.

Tip: enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the
last few bars of the clip, depending on the Fixed Length setting.

28.4 Additional Recording Options

28.4.1 Recording with Repeat

With Push’s Repeat button enabled, you can hold down a pad to play or record a stream
of continuous, rhythmically-even notes. This is useful for recording steady hi-hat
patterns, for example. Varying your finger pressure on the pad will change the volume
of the repeated notes.

Repeat Button.

The repeat rate is set with the Scene/Grid buttons. Note that Push “remembers” the
Repeat button’s state and setting for each track.

Tip: if you press and release Repeat quickly, the button will stay on. If you press
and hold, the button will turn off when released, allowing for momentary control of
repeated notes.

Turn up the Swing knob to apply swing to the repeated notes. When you touch the knob,
the display will show the amount of swing.

Swing Knob.

28.4.2 Quantizing

Pressing Push’s Quantize button will snap notes to the grid in the selected clip.

Quantize Button.

Press and hold Quantize to change the quantization options:

Quantization Options.

Swing Amount determines the amount of swing that will be applied to the quantized
notes. Note that the Swing amount can be adjusted from Encoder 1 or from the dedicated
Swing knob.

Quantize To sets the nearest note value to which notes will be quantized, while Quantize
Amount determines the amount that notes can be moved from their original positions.

Enable Record Quantize to automatically quantize notes while recording and adjust
the record quantization value with Encoder 8. Note that these controls correspond
to the settings of the Record Quantization chooser in Live’s Edit menu, and adjustments
can be made from Live or from Push.

When working with drums, press and hold Quantize and press a Drum Rack pad to quantize
only that drum’s notes in the current clip.

28.5 Playing Melodies and Harmonies

After working on a beat, you’ll want to create a new track so that you can work on
a bassline, harmony parts, etc. Press the Add Track button to add a new MIDI track
to your Live Set.

Add Track Button.

(Tip: press and hold the Add Track button to select between Audio, MIDI and Return
tracks.)

Adding a track puts Push into Browse mode, so you can immediately load an instrument.
After loading your instrument, make sure Note Mode is enabled.

Note that when pressing the Add Track button while a track within a Group Track is
selected, any new tracks will be inserted into that Group Track.

When working with a MIDI track containing an instrument, Push’s 8x8 pad grid automatically
configures itself to play notes. By default, every note on the grid is in the key
of C major. The bottom left pad plays C1 (although you can change the octave with
the Octave Up and Down buttons). Moving upward, each pad is a fourth higher. Moving
to the right, each pad is the next note in the C major scale.

Play a major scale by playing the first three pads in the first row, then the first
three pads in the next row upwards. Continue until you reach the next C:

C Major Scale.

The pad colors help you to stay oriented as you play:

Blue — this note is the root note of the key (C.)

White — this note is in the scale, but is not the root.

Green — the currently-playing note (other pads will also turn green if they play the
same note.)

Red — the currently-playing note when recording.

To play triads, try out the following shape anywhere on the grid:

C Major Chord.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls (see 28.6.1), which appear in the top row of pads. You can lock the loop length controls in place
by holding Shift and pressing the Note button. To unlock the loop length pads, press
the Note button again.

28.5.1 Playing in Other Keys

Press Push’s Scales button to change the selected key and/or scale.

Scales Button.

Using the display and the Selection and State Control buttons, you can change the
key played by the pad grid. The currently selected key is marked with an arrow in
the display:

By default, the pads and scale selection options indicate major scales. You can change
to a variety of other scale types using the first encoder, or the two buttons below
the display on the far left. The selected scale type is also marked with an arrow.

Key and Scale Selection.

In addition to changing the key, you can also change the layout of the grid using
the two buttons on the far right.

Fixed Y/N: When Fixed Mode is on, the notes on the pad grid remain in the same positions when
you change keys; the bottom-left pad will always play C (except in keys that don’t
contain a C, in which case the bottom-left pad will play the nearest note in the key.)
When Fixed is off, the notes on the pad grid shift so that the bottom-left pad always
plays the root of the selected key.

In Key/Chromatic: With In Key selected, the pad grid is effectively “folded” so that only notes within
the key are available. In Chromatic Mode, the pad grid contains all notes. Notes that
are in the key are lit, while notes that are not in the key are unlit.

Holding the Shift button while in Scales mode allows you to access a number of additional
note layout options.

Additional Note Layout Options.

The “4th” and “3rd “options refer to the note interval that the grid is based on,
while the ^ and > symbols refer to the rotation of the grid. For example, the default
layout is “4th ^” which means that each row of pads is a 4th higher than the row below
it. The “4th >” option is also built on 4ths, but now moves to the right rather than
upwards; each column is a 4th higher than the column to the left. The “Sequent” options
lay out all notes in order. These options are useful if you need a very large range
of notes available, because they have no duplicated notes.

The last settings that you chose in the Scale options (key, scale type, In Key/Chromatic,
and Fixed Y/N) are saved with the Set. Push will return to these settings when the
Set is reloaded again.

All of the real-time recording options available for drums (see 28.3.6) are also available for melodies and harmonies, including fixed length recording
(see 28.3.7), recording with repeat (see 28.4.1), and quantizing (see 28.4.2). But for detailed editing, you’ll work with the melodic step sequencer described
in the next section.

(Tip: one editing possibility is available in the real-time Note Mode: to quickly
delete all notes of the same pitch within the current loop, press and hold Delete
and then tap the respective pad.)

28.6 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies

In addition to playing and recording in real time, you can also step sequence your
melodies and harmonies. To toggle to the Melodic Sequencer, press the Note Mode button
a second time. This will set the 8x8 pad grid as follows:

The Pad Grid When Step Sequencing Pitches.

When using the Melodic Sequencer, all eight rows of pads allow you to place notes
in the clip. You can adjust the loop length and access additional step sequencing
pages via the loop length pads (see 28.6.1). The loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the top row while holding the
Note button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the
Note button. (Note that Push remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track.)
To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

With In Key selected, each row corresponds to one of the available pitches in the
currently selected scale. With Chromatic selected, notes that are in the key are lit,
while notes that are not in the key are unlit. The light blue row (which is the bottom
row by default) indicates the root of the selected key. Each column of pads represents
a step in the resolution set by the Scene/Grid buttons.

As with the real-time playing layout, pressing the Octave Up and Down button shifts
the range of available notes. You can also use the touch strip to change the range.
(Tip: hold the Shift key while adjusting the touch strip or pressing the Octave buttons
to fine tune the pitch range.) After adjusting the pitch range or when switching between
the real-time and step sequencing layouts, the display will briefly show the available
range.

Tip: in addition to adding and removing notes, you can also adjust the velocity and
micro-timing of the notes, as described in the section on step sequencing automation
(see 28.12).

28.6.1 Adjusting the Loop Length

The loop length controls allow you to set the length of the clip’s loop and determine
which part of it you can see and edit in the melodic and drum step sequencers. Each
loop length pad corresponds to a page of steps, and the length of a page depends on the step resolution. When working with
drums at the default 16th note resolution, two pages of steps are available at a time,
for a total of two bars. In the Melodic Sequencer layout, one page of eight steps
is available at a time, for a total of two beats. To change the loop length, hold
one pad and then tap another pad (or, to set the loop length to exactly one page,
quickly double-tap the corresponding pad.)

Each Loop Length Pad Corresponds to One Page.

Note that the page you see is not necessarily the page you hear. When you set the loop length, the pages will update so that the current play position
(as indicated by the moving green pad in the step sequencer section) always remains
visible. But in some cases, you may want to disable this auto-follow behavior. For
example, you may want to edit a single page of a longer loop, while still allowing
the loop to play for the length you set. To do this, single-tap the pad that corresponds
to that page. This will “lock” the view to that page without changing the loop length.
To then turn auto-follow back on, simply reselect the current loop. (Note that single-tapping
a page that is outside of the current loop will immediately set the loop to that page.)

The pad colors in the loop length section indicate the following:

Unlit — this page is outside of the loop.

White — this page is within the loop, but is not currently visible in the step sequencer
section.

Dull yellow — this page is visible in the step sequencer section, but is not currently
playing.

Green — this is the currently playing page.

If you need to access the loop length pads frequently, you can lock them in place.
To do this, hold Shift and tap the Note button. (Note that Push remembers this locked/unlocked
state for each track.) To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length
pad for the page you want to duplicate, and press the loop length pad for the destination
page. Note that this will not remove existing notes in the destination page, but will
add copied notes on top. To remove notes first, hold Delete and tap the loop length
pad for that page.

28.7 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes

The Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes layout combines both step sequencing and real-time
playing capabilities. Providing access to multiple octaves and steps on a single page,
this layout is ideal for figuring out chords and harmonies to sequence. It is also
well suited to longer phrases.

28.7.1 32 Notes

The bottom half of the pad grid lets you play notes in real-time, and select them
for step sequencing. Each pad corresponds to one of the available pitches in the currently
selected scale. Pressing a pad will select and play the note. Selected notes are represented
by a lighter version of the track’s color.

Tip: to select a pad without triggering it, press and hold the Select button while
tapping a pad.

The pad colors indicate the following:

Blue — this note is the root note of the scale.

Blue-Green — this pad is selected.

Green — this pad is currently playing.

White — this note is in the scale, but is not the root.

Pressing the Octave Up or Down button shifts the range of available notes. Holding
the Shift key while adjusting the touch strip shifts the range by octaves. You can
hold the Shift key while pressing the Octave buttons to shift by one note in the scale.
The display will briefly show the available range as you adjust it.

As with the 64 Notes layout, the notes in the bottom half of the pad grid can be adjusted
via the Scale menu (see 28.5.1).

28.7.2 Sequencer

Tapping a step in the top half of the pad grid adds all selected notes to that step.
Steps containing notes are displayed in a blue color.

Holding a step lets you view notes contained within the step, which are indicated
in the bottom half of the pad grid by a blue-green color. Tapping any of these selected
notes will remove it from the step.

Holding multiple steps will add selected notes to all those steps. While holding Duplicate,
you can press a step to copy the notes in that step and then press another step to
paste them to a new location in the step sequencer. Note that this will not remove
existing notes in the destination page, but will add copied notes on top. To remove
notes first, hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

The pad colors in the step sequencer indicate the following:

Blue — this step contains a note.

Green — this step is currently playing.

White — this step is selected.

Dull Yellow — this step contains a note, but the note is muted.

Gray — this pad is empty.

Light Red — the right two columns of pads will be unlit if triplets are selected as
the step size. In this case, these pads are not active; only the first six pads in
each row of steps can be used.

When working with the sequencer at the default 16th note resolution, two pages of
steps are available at a time, for a total of two bars. You can adjust the loop length
and access additional step sequencing pages via the loop length pads (see 28.6.1). The loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the fifth row while holding
the Note button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the
Note button. (Note that Push remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track.)
To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length
pad for the page you want to duplicate, and press the loop length pad for the destination
page. Note that this will not remove existing notes in the destination page, but will
add copied notes on top. To remove notes first, hold Delete and tap the loop length
pad for that page.

28.8 Navigating in Note Mode

Now that you’ve created a few tracks, you can continue to add more. But you may want
to move between already-existing tracks to continue working on musical ideas using
those instruments and devices. The Arrow Keys allow you to do this.

Arrow Keys.

The Left/Right Arrows move between tracks. Note that selecting a MIDI track on Push
automatically arms it, so it can be played immediately. In Live, track Arm buttons
will appear pink to indicate that they have been armed via selection.

Pink Track Arm Button.

The specific behavior of the Up/Down Arrows is determined by the Workflow mode, which
is set in Push’s User preferences (see 28.14). In both modes, the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene. In Scene Workflow,
the selected scene is triggered. In Clip Workflow, only the selected track’s clip
is triggered. Clips in other tracks are not affected.

Navigating with the Up/Down Arrows in Note Mode always begins playback immediately,
and a triggered clip will take over the play position from whatever clip was played
in that track before. Note that this is the same behavior as if the clips were set
to Legato Mode in Live (see 13.5).

28.9 Controlling Live’s Instruments and Effects

Pressing the Device button puts Push in Device Mode, which allows Push’s encoders
to control parameters in Live’s devices.

Device Button.

In Device Mode, the Selection Control buttons select devices in the currently selected
track, while the State Control buttons turn the selected device on or off. The currently
selected device is marked with an arrow in the display.

Device Mode Settings.

The In and Out buttons allow you to navigate to additional devices and parameters
that may not be immediately available.

In and Out Buttons.

Use these buttons to access:

additional banks of parameters (for effects that have more than one bank of parameters).

additional device chains within Racks that contain more than one chain.

28.10 Mixing with Push

To control volumes, pans, or sends with the encoders for up to eight tracks simultaneously,
press the corresponding button on Push. Hold Shift while adjusting the encoders for
fine-tune control.

Volume and Pan & Send Buttons.

In Volume Mode, the encoders control track volume.

Pressing the Pan & Send button repeatedly will cycle between controlling pans and
however many sends are available in your Live Set.

Press Push’s Track button to enable Track Mode.

Track Button.

In Track Mode, the encoders control track volume, pan and the first six sends of the
selected track. Press the Selection Control buttons to select which track will be
controlled in Track Mode.

Selecting Tracks in Track Mode.

Press the Master button to select the Master track.

(Tip: press and hold a Group Track’s Selection Control button to unfold or fold the
track.)

Note that when Split Stereo Pan Mode (see 15.1) is active while in Pan & Send Mode, the display will show the current pan value,
but the pan dial will be disabled. In Track Mode, the display will show either the
pan control or stereo pan sliders, depending on the active pan mode.

28.11 Recording Automation

Changes that you make to device and mixer parameters can be recorded to your clips
as automation, so that the sound will change over time as the clip plays. To record
automation, press Push’s Automation button.

Automation Button.

This toggles Live’s Session Automation Arm button, allowing you to record changes
you make to Push’s encoders as part of the clip. When you’re done recording parameter
changes, press the Automation button again to turn it off. To delete the changes you’ve
recorded for a particular parameter, press and hold the Delete button and touch the
corresponding encoder. If automation hasn’t been recorded for a parameter, holding
Delete and touching an encoder will reset the corresponding parameter to its default
value.

Automated parameters are shown with a “�” symbol next to the parameter name in the display. Parameters that you have overridden
(by manually adjusting the parameter while not recording) will show their value in
brackets.

Automated and/or Overridden Parameters are Indicated in the Display.

To reenable all automation that you have manually overridden press and hold Shift
and press the Automation button.

28.12 Step Sequencing Automation

In both the drum and melodic step sequencers, press and hold a step to access note-specific
parameters (selected by pressing the button below “Notes” in the display) or per-step
automation (selected by pressing the button below “Automat” in the display).

Hold a Step to Adjust Note and Automation Parameters.

28.12.1 Note-Specific Parameters

Press Notes and then adjust the corresponding encoders in order to:

nudge notes backwards or forwards in time. The value represents the percentage that the
note is offset from the previous grid line. (Negative values indicate that the note
occurs before the grid line.)

change the length of the selected notes. The first encoder adjusts the coarse length while the second
encoder allows you to fine tune the length adjustment.

change the velocity of the selected notes.

You can also adjust these note-specific parameters for multiple steps at the same
time. To do this, press and hold all of the pads you’d like to adjust, and then tweak
the encoders. The display will show the range of values for the selected steps.

With Multiple Steps Selected, the Display Shows the Range of Parameter Values.

Tip: you can also create notes with your desired Nudge, Length, and Velocity values
by holding an empty step and then tweaking any of these encoders.

When working with drums, you can adjust nudge, length, and velocity for every note played by a particular pad by pressing and holding the Select button, pressing
the pad, and then adjusting the encoders.

Hold Select and Press a Drum Pad to Tweak All Notes Played by that Pad.

In both the drum and melodic step sequencers, you can copy a step (including all of
its note-specific parameters) and paste it to another step. To do this, hold Duplicate
and tap the step you’d like to copy. Then tap the destination step and release Duplicate.

28.12.2 Per-Step Automation

Press “Automat” when holding a step in order to create and edit device or mixer automation
for only the selected step. While holding a step and tweaking an encoder, the corresponding
parameter’s automation value will be adjusted specifically for the time represented
by that step. Note that per-step automation can be created for any step, even if that
step doesn’t contain notes.

28.13 Controlling Live’s Session View

Press Push’s Session button to switch from Note Mode to Session Mode. (Press and hold
the Session button to temporarily toggle Session Mode. Releasing the button will then
return to Note Mode. Likewise, pressing and holding Note while in Session Mode will
temporarily toggle Note Mode.)

Session Button.

In Session Mode, the 8x8 pad grid will now launch clips and the Scene/Grid Buttons
will launch scenes. Pressing a pad triggers the clip in the corresponding location
in Live’s Session View. If the track is selected, pressing the button records a new
clip.

The pads light up in different colors so you know what’s going on:

The color of all non-playing clips in your Live Set is reflected on the pads.

Playing clips pulse green to white.

Recording clips pulse red to white.

You can stop all music in a track by enabling Stop Mode and pressing that track’s
State Control button.

Stopping Clip Playback.

To stop all clips, press and hold Shift, and then press Stop.

Push tells you what’s going on in the software, but, importantly, the software also
reflects what’s happening on the hardware. The clip slots currently being controlled
by Push’s pad grid are shown in Live with a colored border.

The directional arrows and Shift button increase the scope of the eight-by-eight grid.

Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene at a time. Hold the Shift button
while hitting Up or Down to move eight scenes up or down. (Tip: you can also use the
Octave Up and Down buttons to move by eight scenes at a time.)

The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time. Hold the
Shift button while hitting Left or Right to move eight tracks at a time.

28.13.1 Session Overview

Push’s Session Overview lets you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without
looking at your computer screen. Hold down the Shift button and the pad grid zooms
out to reveal an overview of your Session View. In the Session Overview, each pad
represents an eight-scene-by-eight-track block of clips, giving you a matrix of 64
scenes by 64 tracks. Hit a pad to focus on that section of the Session View. For example,
holding the Shift button and then pressing the pad in row three, column one will put
the focus on scenes 17-24 and tracks 1-8. Furthermore, while Shift is held, each scene
launch button represents a block of 64 scenes (if they are available in your Set.)

In the Session Overview, the color coding is a little different:

Amber: indicates the currently selected block of clips, which will be surrounded by
the colored border in the software.

Green: there are clips playing in that block of clips (though that may not be the
block of clips selected).

Red: there are no clips playing in that range.

No color: there are no tracks or scenes in that range.

28.14 Setting User Preferences

Press and hold the User button to adjust the sensitivity of Push’s velocity response,
aftertouch, and other settings.

User ButtonUser Settings

Pad Threshold sets the softest playing force that will trigger notes. More force is
required at higher settings. Note that at lower settings, notes may trigger accidentally
and pads may “stick” on.

Velocity Curve determines how sensitive the pads are when hit with various amounts
of force, and ranges from Linear (a one-to-one relationship between striking force
and note velocity) to various logarithmic curves. Higher Log values provide more dynamic
range when playing softly. Lighter playing styles may benefit from higher Log values.
The diagram below demonstrates the various velocity curves, with striking force on
the horizontal axis and note velocity on the vertical axis.

Diagram of Push’s Velocity Curves

The Workflow option determines how Push behaves when the Duplicate, New, or Up/Down
arrow buttons are pressed. Which mode you choose depends on how you like to organize
your musical ideas. In Scene Workflow (which is the default), musical ideas are organized
and navigated in scenes. In Clip Workflow, you’re working with only the currently
selected clip.

In Scene Workflow:

Duplicate creates a new scene containing all of the currently playing clips, and seamlessly
switches to playing them back. This is the same as the Capture and Insert Scene command
in Live’s Create menu (see 7.4.3).

New is identical to Duplicate, except that it does not duplicate the currently selected clip. Instead, an empty clip slot is prepared, allowing
you to create a new idea in the current track.

the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene. Playback of the clips in the
new scene begins seamlessly.

In Clip Workflow:

Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in a new scene, while continuing
playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks. (Tip: hold Shift while pressing
Duplicate to create a new scene containing all of the currently playing clips.)

New prepares an empty clip slot on the currently selected track. Clips in other tracks
are not affected.

the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene. Playback of the currently selected
track’s clip in the new scene begins seamlessly. Clips in other tracks are not affected.

Aftertouch Threshold sets the lowest incoming aftertouch value (from 0-127) that Push
will register. Input values below this level will be ignored, while input values above
this level will be scaled across the entire aftertouch range. For example, if you
set the Aftertouch Threshold to 120 and play with an aftertouch value of 119, nothing
will happen. But input values between 120 and 127 will be scaled to output a value
from 0 to 127, as follows:

MIDI track containing a Drum Rack — the Pad Section is divided; the lower-left 16
pads play the Drum Rack, the lower-right 16 pads adjust the loop length of the clip,
and the upper four rows control the step sequencer. Press Note again to toggle to
64-pad mode, allowing you to play drums across the entire 8x8 pad grid.

Arrow Keys — move through your Live Set (in Session Mode) and between tracks or scenes/clips
(in Note Mode).

Select — In Session Mode, hold Select and press a clip to select the clip without
launching it. This will also display the clip name in the display. In Note Mode, hold
Select and press a Drum Rack pad to select its notes without triggering the pad.

Add Section

Add Section.

These buttons add new devices or tracks to your Live Set.

Add Effect — opens Browse Mode to add a new device to the right of the currently selected
device. Hold Shift while pressing Add Effect to add the new device to the left of
the currently selected device. Tip: to add a MIDI Effect, first select the instrument
in a track. Then hold Shift while pressing Add Effect.

Add Track — creates a new MIDI track to the right of the currently selected track.
Press and hold Add Track to select a different type of track to add (Audio, MIDI,
or Return.) If the Add Track button is pressed while a track within a Group Track
is selected, any new tracks will be inserted into that Group Track.

Note Section

Note Section.

These buttons adjust how notes are played on Push.

Scales — When Note Mode is on and an instrument track is selected, pressing this button
allows you to select which scale will be played on the pads. Note that this button
has no effect when a Drum Rack track is selected or when in Session Mode.

Fixed Y/N: When Fixed Mode is on, the notes on the pad grid remain in the same positions
when you change keys; the bottom-left pad will always play C (except in keys that
don’t contain a C, in which case the bottom-left pad will play the nearest note in
the key.) When Fixed is off, the notes on the pad grid shift so that the bottom-left
pad always plays the root of the selected key.

In Key/Chromatic: With In Key selected, the pad grid is effectively “folded” so that
only notes within the key are available. In Chromatic Mode, the pad grid contains
all notes. Notes that are in the key are lit, while notes that are not in the key
are unlit.

Scale selection: Select the base scale with the up/down buttons on the lefthand side.

User — All of Push’s built-in functionality can be disabled via User Mode. This allows
Push to be reprogrammed to control alternate functions in Live or other software.
Press and hold the User button to access a number of configuration options. (Tip:
Push’s relative encoders work best in “Relative (2’s Comp.)” mode. To ensure this
mode is selected, turn the encoder slowly to the left during mapping.)

Repeat — when Repeat is enabled, holding down a pad will retrigger the note. The Scene/Grid
buttons change the rhythmic value of the repeated note.

Accent — when Accent is enabled, all incoming notes (whether step sequenced or played
in real-time) are played at full velocity. Press and hold Accent to temporarily enable
it.

Octave Up/Down — if an instrument track is selected, these buttons shift the pads
up or down by octave. If a Drum Rack is selected, these buttons shift the Drum Rack’s
pad overview up or down by 16 pads. In Session Mode, these buttons shift control of
the Session View up or down by eight scenes. These buttons will be unlit if no additional
octaves are available.

State Control Section

State Control Section.

When working with tracks, the leftmost eight buttons will either stop clips or mute
or solo the corresponding track, depending on which of the three rightmost buttons
is pressed (Stop, Mute, or Solo). When working with devices instead of tracks, the
leftmost eight buttons will toggle devices on and off. These buttons have additional
functionality in other modes (scale selection, etc.)

Tip: to stop all clips, press and hold Shift, and then press Stop.

Selection Control Section

Selection Control Section.

These buttons work in conjunction with the Display/Encoder Section buttons and select
what parameters can be edited by the encoders and shown in the display. The In and
Out buttons allow you to access devices inside Racks or additional parameter banks
for devices with more than eight parameters. In Browse Mode, the In and Out buttons
shift the display to the right or left, allowing you to browse deeper levels of subfolders
or view a larger number of presets on the display.

Display/Encoder Section

Display/Encoder Section.

The six buttons to the right of the display determine the editing mode of the encoders.
In all modes, the ninth encoder controls the volume of the Master track (or the Pre-Cue
volume if Shift is held.) Holding Shift while adjusting any of the first eight encoders
allows you to fine-tune whichever parameter is currently being controlled by that
encoder. Note that you can temporarily toggle to a different editing mode by pressing
and holding the corresponding button. Releasing the button will then return to the
previous mode.

Volume Mode.

In Volume Mode, the encoders control volume of the eight selected tracks.

Pan & Send Mode.

In Pan & Send Mode, press once to control pans. Subsequent presses cycle through sends.

Track Mode.

In Track Mode, the encoders control track volume, pan and the first six sends of the
selected track. Select which clip track to control via the eight Selection Control
buttons. Press the Master button to select the Master track.

In Clip Mode, the encoders control various parameters for the selected clip. The parameters
depend on the type of clip selected:

Clip Mode With a MIDI Clip Selected.

Loop Start (or Clip Start if Loop is off)

Position

Loop Length (or Clip End if Loop is off)

Loop On/Off

Clip Mode With an Audio Clip Selected.

Loop Start (or Clip Start if Loop is off)

Position

Loop Length (or Clip End if Loop is off)

Loop On/Off

Warp Mode

Detune

Transpose

Gain

Device — The encoders control parameters for the selected device.Browse — The encoders scroll through the available devices and presets.

Tempo Section

Tempo Section.

Tap Tempo — as you press once every beat, the tempo of the Live Set will follow your
tapping. If the “Start Playback with Tap Tempo” button is enabled in Live’s Record/Warp/Launch
Preferences, you can also use tapping to count in: If you are working in a 4:4 signature,
it takes four taps to start song playback at the tapped tempo.

Metronome — toggles Live’s metronome on or off.

The left encoder adjusts Live’s tempo in increments of one BPM. Holding Shift while
adjusting will set the tempo in increments of .1 BPM.

The right encoder sets the amount of swing applied when Quantizing, Record Quantizing
or when Repeat is pressed.

Edit Section

Edit Section.

Undo — undoes the last action. Press and hold Shift while pressing Undo to Redo. Note
that Push’s Undo button applies Live’s Undo functionality, so it will undo actions
in your Live Set even if they were done without using Push.

Delete — In Note Mode, this button deletes the selected clip. In Session Mode, hold
Delete and then press a clip to delete that clip. Hold Delete and select a device
or track with Push’s Selection Control buttons to delete. Hold Delete and touch an
encoder to delete automation controlled by that encoder. If automation has not been
recorded for a particular parameter, holding Delete and touching the corresponding
encoder will reset that parameter to its default value.

Quantize — press and release to quantize the selected notes (or all notes in the clip
if there is no selection). Hold Quantize and press a drum pad to quantize that pad’s
notes. For audio clips, Quantize will affect transients. Press and hold Quantize to
access quantization settings. After changing these settings, press once to exit and
then press and release to apply your changes.

Double — doubles the material within the loop, as well as the length of the loop.

Transport Section

Transport Section.

Fixed Length — when enabled, all newly created clips will be a fixed number of bars.
When disabled, new clips will continue to record until you press the Record, New or
Play/Stop buttons. Press and hold, then use the buttons beneath the display to specify
the fixed recording length. Tip: enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars of the clip, depending
on the Fixed Length setting.

Automation — toggles Live’s Automation Record button. When on, your parameter changes
will be recorded into playing Session View clips. Hold Shift and press Automation
to reenable any automation that you have overridden. Hold Delete and press the Automation
button to delete all automation in a clip.

Duplicate — In Scene Workflow, Duplicate creates a new scene containing all of the
currently playing clips. In Clip Workflow, Duplicate creates a copy of the currently
selected clip in a new scene, while continuing playback of any currently playing clips
in other tracks. Hold Duplicate while pressing a Drum Rack pad to copy the pad and
paste it to a new location in the Drum Rack.

New — Pressing New stops the selected clip and prepares Live to record new material.
This allows you to practice before making a new recording. On armed MIDI tracks, holding
Record while pressing New triggers Capture (see 16.10).

Record — Press the Record button to begin recording. Pressing Record again will stop
recording but will continue playing back the clip. Pressing Record a third time will
enable overdub mode, allowing you to record into the clip while it plays back

Touch Strip

Touch Strip.

When an instrument track is selected, the touch strip adjusts pitch bend or modulation
wheel amount when playing in real-time, or the available range of notes when step
sequencing. When a Drum Rack track is selected, the touch strip selects the Drum Rack
bank.

Pitch bend is selected by default when an instrument track is selected. To change
the functionality of the touch strip, hold Select and tap the strip. This toggles
between pitch bend and mod wheel functionality each time you tap it. The display will
briefly show the current mode each time you change it. Note that pitch bend and modulation
wheel functionality is only available when playing instruments in real time, and not
when using the melodic step sequencers.

Pad Section

Pad Section.

The functionality of the Pad Section is determined by the Note and Session Mode buttons.
When Session Mode is on, the Pad Section is used to launch clips in Live’s Session
View. When Note Mode is on, the Pad Section changes its functionality based on the
type of track that is currently selected:

MIDI track containing a Drum Rack — the Pad Section is divided; the lower-left 16
pads play the Drum Rack, the lower-right 16 pads adjust the loop length of the clip,
and the upper four rows control the step sequencer. Press Note again to toggle to
64-pad mode, allowing you to play drums across the entire 8x8 pad grid.

Scene/Grid Section

Scene/Grid Section.

These buttons also change their functionality depending on whether Session Mode or
Note Mode is selected. When Session Mode is selected, these buttons launch Session
View scenes. (Tip: hold the Select button while pressing a Scene button to select
the scene without launching it.) When Note Mode is selected, the Scene/Grid Section
determines the rhythmic resolution of the step sequencer grid and the rhythmic resolution
of repeated notes (when Repeat is enabled.)

Footswitches

Two ports on the back of Push allow you to connect momentary footswitches. Footswitch
1 acts as a sustain pedal. Footswitch 2 gives you hands-free control of Push’s recording
functionality. A single tap of the footswitch will toggle the Record button, thus
switching between recording/overdubbing and playback of the current clip. Quickly
double-tapping the footswitch is the same as pressing the New button.

Note that certain footswitches may behave “backwards”; for example, notes may sustain
only when the pedal is not depressed. Footswitch polarity can usually be corrected by connecting the footswitch
to the port while depressing it, but we recommend using footswitches with a physical
polarity switch.